Dave Roberts Discusses Yoshinobu Yamamoto's First Win as a Member of Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers improved to 8-3 on Saturday, largely thanks to their right-handed ace and Japanese sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto started in his third career game as a big leaguer; however, this one was more special.
In his start against the Chicago Cubs, Yamamoto earned his first big league win. He was spectacular in his outing, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn't help but praise his ace. After the game, Roberts spoke with reporters, including LA Times and Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris. Roberts says although he was shaky at times, he thought he was 'fantastic.'
"Just with how those first couple innings started, to be able to get him through five innings … was big," Roberts said, noting that Yamamoto was on a rough 85-pitch limit after failing to surpass 70 in his first two appearances. "Just being mindful of that, I thought he was fantastic."
The 25-year-old had his best outing. In five innings, he only allowed three hits, zero earned runs, two walks and eight strikeouts, a new career high in a single game for Yamamoto.
After his horrific major league debut in Korea against the San Diego Padres, where he allowed five runs on four hits and the loss, Yamamoto has pitched like the $325 million man L.A. expected him to be.
Since then, he's pitched in ten innings, allowed only five hits, zero earned runs, and 13 strikeouts.
An ace looks and pitches just like Yamamoto has in his last two starts. It hasn't all been pretty, but he's shown his composure and toughness when he gets caught in jams and gets out of them unscathed thus far.
It's a beauty to watch, and we can't wait to see how much better he gets through the course of the season.
